


Five Ways to Say Three Words

by BriMarie



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Hurt and comfort, I Love You, Nini Salazar roberts - Freeform, high school musical the musical the series - Freeform, hsmtmts, rickini, ricky bowen - Freeform, rini - Freeform, unaware feelings, unkown crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24450640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriMarie/pseuds/BriMarie
Summary: Ricky and Nini try to hint that they love each other using love languages instead of actually saying the words.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 6
Kudos: 63





	Five Ways to Say Three Words

1\. Listening 

Nini storms into her room and chucks her book bag across the room practically destroying her lamp in the process. She didn’t seem to be bothered by it that much. She was too angry.

She fell on her back on her bed and grabbed the closest pillow she could reach to hold to her chest. Ricky just watched her from the doorframe with a poker face.

“So I couldn’t help but notice that you’re a little upset about something.” He says sarcastically. She gives him her death glare, and his playful smile disappears.

“Yeah well I have a good reason to be.” She tightened her grip on the pillow and stared daggers at the innocent ceiling.

He plopped down beside her. “You wanna talk about it?”

She got up and sat crisscrossed. “You won’t believe what EJ did today.” Ricky frowned at the name of her current boyfriend. He personally has never been a fan and never liked talking about him.

“I don’t need to punch him do I?” He was worried that the jock maybe made his best friend uncomfortable.

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine Ricky. I just am so angry that he’d do such an unforgivable thing! Like why doesn’t he trust me more! I’ve done nothing but be a good girlfriend to him and he goes around my back and steals my phone because he thinks I’m cheating on him? Like have a little trust and respect in me dammit!”

She takes a break to breathe, and she begins to tear up from anger. He knows that the best thing to do is just listen to her rant so that she can get it out of her system. He knew that sometimes people just want to be heard without interruptions. She’s always been like that since they were in kindergarten.

“I don’t even know who I’d cheat with! Or what made him think that in the first place. He just has no respect for me which is why I had to end it the moment I saw him in the library. I couldn’t bare being in the same room as him or the thought of being called his girlfriend anymore. I’m just so done with it all. I hate relationships.”

When she didn’t talk for a while, he knew that she was done. He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. 

“Men ain’t shit.” He z-snapped and rolled his neck sassily. She busted out laughing with her head hanging back. Her contagious laughter soon spread to him. 

“Oh my god Ricky, that was the funniest thing ever. You always know how to brighten my day.” She rested her head on his shoulder. 

“Well it took me years of training, but I’ve finally mastered the art of putting a smile on your face when you’re fired up.” 

She smiled up at him and placed her left hand on his leg. “Thank you for listening. I needed it.”

They both stopped for a second and gaze into the others eyes, and she could’ve sworn she saw him lean in a bit. If he did, he didn’t pursue it. He suddenly became bashful.

“Hey so uh you wanna join Red and I at the mall? We’re gonna buy some new wheels for our boards. I know you’re not into skating, but it’s a pretty good way to take your mind off of that asshole.” 

She smiles and pops up from her spot. Maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see. “Yeah let me get my purse.”

If there were a shift between them that day, it was ignored.

***

2\. Hurt and Comfort 

Nini knew something was up the moment she laid her eyes on him.

His appearance was basically screaming “help me I’m in pain” whenever he stumbled into their first period seconds before the bell rang. His hair was messy, his complexion was pale, and his eyes were a little red most likely due to crying.

She was about to walk over and ask what was bothering him, but their teacher began to teach their lesson. She decided to text him instead.

N: Hey are you okay?

When he got the notification, he looked over to her from across the room and gave her a fake smile and a weak thumbs up.

R: Yeah I’m fine.

He put his phone in his backpack so he couldn’t reply anymore. Like hell was he fine. Did he really think she’d let this slide? It’s like he didn’t know she was a pryer.

When the bell rang, she watched as he quickly made his way to the exit probably knowing that she’d try to get his attention. She ran out and looked down both ways of the hall but didn’t see him. Damn he really knew how to vanish without a trace when he needed to.

She didn’t see him for the rest of the school day. She only shared lunch and first period with him, and he ditched their lunch table today. Of course at first the others at the table all were curious where he was, but no one actually thought much of it. But Nini did.

She tried texting countless times during the day and even had the courage to call him twice, but he ignored all of her advances. That’s when she decided enough was enough.

The moment school was let out, she drove straight to the skate park knowing that he goes there when he’s upset since it’s mostly empty at this hour. When she arrived, she noticed there was only three people there and wasn’t shocked that one of the three was Ricky. She stormed up to the ramp he was at and rested her hands on her hips.

“Richard Bowen!” 

All three of the skaters stopped what they were doing to look at her. Ricky’s eyes were the size of saucers at the sight of her. He knew damn well that he was in trouble when she used his full name. 

“Oh damn dude, you’re in for it. She used the full name.” One of the skaters said. Ricky gulped and considered booking it to his house as fast as he could, but he also knew that she’d just go to his house and bug him until he or his father opened the door. Ricky let out a groan.

“Fuck...” Ricky dragged his feet as he walked over to his hot headed friend. He was too afraid to look her in the eyes due to both shame and fear. 

“Hey Ni-“

“Cut the crap Ricky. Why have you been ignoring your friends all day, especially me of all people?!” 

Ricky scratched the back of his head while maintaining his eye contact with the ground. 

“Can we talk somewhere more private like maybe in your car? I don’t want someone to overhear.” 

She let down her guard a bit but still wasn’t fully in forgiving mode yet. She nodded and they walked to her car. When they got in, Nini noticed how quickly his facial expression changed when he wasn’t around the other guys. She immediately wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a comforting hug.

“Oh my god Ricky what’s wrong?!” He allowed the tears to stroll down his face as she cradled him. He held her tighter as he rested his head in the crook of her neck.

“It’s my parents Neens....” He didn’t elaborate, so she assumed that maybe they both were in critical condition or worse. “What happened to them?”

He sniffled and wiped his nose. “My mom she’s not coming back the next time she goes to Chicago. She’s leaving us for some guy I’ve never even met before. She’s leaving in a few days.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She would’ve never thought that someone as kind and caring as Lynne would abandon her family like that. 

“Oh my god Ricky that’s horrible.” She roamed her fingers through his curls to soothe him. It only helped a little. 

“I knew they were having bad times, but I didn’t realize how bad it truly was. Why would she just take off like that without even consulting me? And why would she treat my dad like this when he’s been nothing but great to her for all these years? I just don’t understand Nini. They’re supposed to love each other.”

She felt her eyes becoming watery as she listened to him talk. She wanted nothing more than to make him feel better again and possibly have a few words with his mother.

“I feel like maybe part of it was my fault. I wasn’t being too kind to her when she went on long business trips, so maybe I pushed her away or something.”

She pulled away and rested both hands on his shoulders to look him in the eyes.

“Ricky Bowen I will not allow you to blame yourself for your parents separation. You had nothing to do with any of it and both of your parents love you with all their hearts. It was your mom’s choice to leave the way she did, and I know for a fact that she’d never leave because of you. She probably had her own problems.”

Ricky gave her a small smile and wiped some more tears. “Thank you Nini.” He wrapped his arms back around her, and she reciprocated. 

“I’m here for you when you need me okay? You don’t need to try to hide from me or any of our other friends when you’re in pain. No one deserves to suffer in silence, especially someone as incredible as you.”

She felt him form a smile, and to her surprise he kissed her on the cheek. “Sorry I won’t do it again.” She blushed and tried to ignore her heart beating fast. 

“You better not.” She let go of him to turn the car on. “Now, I’m going to go buy you some ice cream and we’re gonna watch as many Marvel movies as possible to cheer you up.” He chuckled and buckled his seatbelt. 

She was just happy that she was the one to put that award winning smile back on his face.

“Sounds good to me.”

***

3\. Thoughtful Gestures

The moment Nini texted Ricky that she couldn’t come to Big Red’s birthday party because she had a cold, he immediately dropped everything to be by her side.

She of course tried to shoo him away as much as possible stating that she would be fine and that it wasn’t anything serious, but she should’ve known that he wouldn’t be fine with that. It didn’t help that both of her moms were out of town when she got sick.

He had stopped by three times that day just to make sure she was comfortable and her health was getting better. She rolled her eyes every time he’d try to nurse her, but she knew he meant well. 

She had been chilling on her couch watching Tangled when she heard a knock at her door. She already had a feeling she knew who it a was.

She opened the door and was greeted by a bag from Panera and hot tea in her face. “Hey I was just in the neighborhood and thought you might be hungry. I know it’s around dinner time and I wasn’t sure if your moms left you anything to eat or if you were healthy enough to cook so here you go.”

She rolled her eyes playfully and grabbed the food and drink. “Ricky when are you going to stop worrying about me? I’m 17, and you’ve stopped by here like a dozen times already.” She opens the door wider for him despite her words, and he follows her to the couch shutting the door behind him.

“Hey I’ll never stop worrying about my best friend. Plus I know deep down inside you don’t want to be alone knowing literally all of our friends are having fun at Red’s.” 

She couldn’t deny that. She definitely didn’t want to be alone, but she didn’t want to burden anyone else from going to the party. 

“You’re very sweet and I appreciate you, but seriously go have fun. You’re missing out on the party as we speak. It ends in like three hours.” He shook his head and sat down on the couch.

“I already told him what’s up and that I wasn’t comfortable with you being alone. He totally got it and said he hopes you feel better. Now will you please shut up and eat your soup while we finish watching whatever you were looking at?” 

She sighed in defeat and joined him on the couch. “You know, you can be really pushy when you wanna be Bowen.” She says taking a sip of her hot tea. “Yeah, but you love me.” She knows he doesn’t mean it like that, but she can’t help but feel a certain way. Her face begins to burn, and it wasn’t because of the tea.

“Yeah I know.”

***

4\. Noticing the little things

Over the years, both Ricky and Nini had learned all the small details about each other. They knew all of their pet peeves, secret signals, and many other signs.

So it wasn’t a surprise that Nini noticed one little thing that Ricky tends to do when he’s just a little anxious yet excited. He always bites his lip til it practically bleeds while fiddling with his fingers. He’ll even sometimes tap his foot. She wondered what could possibly get her best friend so riled up like this.

They were currently at Kourtney’s Christmas party where everyone was playing secret Santa. Ricky was sitting next to Nini and he was doing that lip bite and shaky leg combo. She placed her hand on top of his knee to get him to stop. She moved close to his ear so she could whisper.

“Hey what’s wrong?” 

He just shrugged as if nothing was making him anxious. “I’m just overreacting probably. It’s really nothing to worry about Neens.” She rose a brow. That didn’t help her feel at ease at all.

“Ricky why don’t you just tell me? You’re doing that lip biting and shaky leg thing that you do when you’re nervous.”

She heard him cuss under his breath at being caught. “Damn nervous system always snitching on me and you for knowing me too well.” Before she could ask again, they were interrupted by Kourtney.

“Alright guys it’s time to exchange gifts. Come up to the tree and start the game so we can start watching Polar Express.” All of the guest did as they were told. 

Nini watched as Ricky rubbed his hands on his pants from all the sweat he built up. She was starting to worry that he was suffering in silence again. She happened to be his secret Santa that year, so she decided to ask him when she gave him his present.

She walked up to him right as he grabbed his gift from the tree. “This is for you from me. I hope you like it.” He smiled and unwrapped the gift. 

His heart began to glow when he saw what she got him. “You got me two tickets to see Tony Hawk?!” He practically yells causing others to stare. She smiled and began to clap. “Not only see. It’s a meet and greet! I know how much you and Red love him, so it’s kinda a gift for both of you.” 

He almost drops the tickets as he makes his way to hug her. He picked her up and began swaying side to side. “Oh my god I love it so much! You’re amazing!” She let’s out a hearty laugh while the others watch in awe.

“It’s really nothing! They’re cheaper than I thought.” He finally put her down, but he didn’t release his grip from her waist. When he looked down at the gift he bought, she noticed that his smile suddenly dropped.

“Oh shit, now my gift looks bad. I was your secret Santa too.” He lifted up his small box. “Oh I’m pretty sure I’ll love it if it’s from you.” He looked up to see that the others were still looking at them and suddenly felt shy.

“Hey actually can we go somewhere that doesn’t contain all of our friends staring at us with goo-goo eyes?” Nini turns around to see their friends all looking at them and understands why someone would feel awkward. “Yeah let’s go to the dining room.”

She grabs his hand and leads him to the piano bench that was in the dining room. The first thing he does when he sits is shake his leg and fiddle with his fingers. That’s when she put two and two together and realized that he must’ve been nervous about whatever he got her.

“Uh it’s not much but I thought it was kinda cool when I saw it.” He says looking at the box instead of her. She opens the box and she slips an awe out of her mouth when she sees what he got her.

“Ricky this is such a cute Lilo and Stitch necklace! But why does it break into two?” She asks holding up both of them. He shyly takes the other half that had Stitch’s face on it.

“Um it’s actually a couples necklace, or in this case a best friends necklace.” He quickly corrected himself. “I know you really like this movie just as much as Tangled and so do I. So the half that you have says 'You’re my Ohana’ while my half says 'And I’ll always love you.’ When it comes together, the picture is complete. Kinda like how we make each other complete...”

He finds himself blushing and unable to look her in the eye when he’s done with his mini speech. He felt her two small hands make their way around his neck pulling him closer to her face. 

“I love it. I’ll cherish it forever.”

She leans up to press her lips to his cheek and she has to stop herself from laughing at him when she saw how shook he looked. When he finally comprehended the friendly kiss, he wrapped his arms around her too.

They were so into their little moment that they didn’t notice their friends secretly watching them.

“Oh will you guys just kiss already? You’re killing me smalls!” Big Red yells.

Nini and Ricky both turn their heads to their eavesdropping friends slightly annoyed that their moment was interrupted.

“Shut up!” They both yell. The others begin to snicker. Suddenly, Ashlyn pulls out a camera and snaps a pic. “This one is definitely going on Instagram.” They all laughed and began to run away before either of them could stop them.

“Hey get back here!” Ricky yells as he shoots up from the bench to chase their rowdy friends. Nini sighed and looked down at the wonderful gift he gave her.

“Merry Christmas Ricky.”

***

5\. Supporting each other

Nini and Ricky have always supported one another’s interest regardless of whether or not the other was into it or not. 

Nini was into theater and musicals while Ricky was into skateboarding and alternative music. She liked Barbies while he liked Legos. Despite their differences, it always seemed to have worked. Neither ridiculed the other for their hobbies and passions which is part of the reason their relationship was so healthy.

Today was an example of one supporting the other. Nini has been practicing and working her ass off for a role that she’s been trying to get for a while now. If she were to get this part, it’d be her first time ever being a lead instead of an understudy or extra. This year they were doing auditions for Teen Beach Movie, and she was going for Mack.

Ricky had gone to the auditions with her for support and was prepping her before she entered the theater. He noticed she was fidgeting with her hair as they approached the other competitors. Ricky grabbed her hand and squeezed it three times. 

Nini pretended she didn’t know what that actually meant because she assumed he didn’t know any better and was just trying to comfort her. He leaned down to her ear. 

“Hey you’ll be fine. You’ve been practicing that song and dance for a whole month now, and you remember all the lines. And you probably watched that damn movie so many times that you could probably perform the entire thing right now.” 

She knew he was right, but when she saw other people who could easily fit the role she wanted, she began to get nervous. Also it’s natural to be a little jumpy when you audition. 

“Yeah you’re right. I’m going to kill it up there.” She said trying her best to believe her own words. They both sat beside each other watching the others who auditioned for Mack perform the song Can’t Stop Singing. Ricky held onto her hand and would occasionally look over at her to see if she was doing okay.

When she heard her name come up, she squeezed Ricky’s hand and made her way to the stage. 

“Alright Ms. Salazar-Roberts, let’s see what you got!” The strawberry blond casting director said cheerfully.

The spotlight shined on her and she felt like a deer in the headlights. She felt like she couldn’t breathe and forgot how to move. She begins to silently panic until she catches sight of her best friend in the audience giving her a thumbs up as he’s holding onto the necklace they shared. 

All of a sudden, she feels invincible. She held onto her necklace and began to sing. She kept her eye contact with Ricky since he was the only thing that made her feel safe, cozy, and at home. And she now fully understood the true meaning of her necklace. He’s her ohana.

Ricky is her home.

By the time she’s done with her audition, she forgets that they weren’t the only two in the building. She’s only reminded when she hears clapping and a bravo from the choreographer. She thanks the crowd and makes her way back to her seat. 

Nini squeals as quietly as she could as she finds herself sitting in his lap giving him a hug. “You did great out there. You’ll definitely get the part.” He says into her ear.

“I sure hope so.”

After the auditions ended, the casting director named Ms. Jenn put up the role call sheet just an hour after. Nini has never seen someone post so soon, but she wasn’t complaining. She already knew a herd would surround it so Nini and Ricky patiently waited for the crowd to die down before making their way to the sheet.

He was holding her hand tightly knowing that she was probably extremely nervous. He really hopes she gets this role because he knows it’s her last chance to be a lead forever, and it would crush her to be an extra again.

Finally the kids began to leave, so the pair began to slowly walk to the sheet. He looked down at her and saw she was already looking up at him. There was something about the way she was looking at him that he hasn’t seen before. It was almost like she was admiring him. But he was probably thinking too much into it.

“Ready?” He asks. 

She faintly nods, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

She squeezed his hand three times, and he almost forgot how to think. 

He was well aware of that secret meaning because he had done it to her earlier. He has to remind himself that now wasn’t the time to think about that. She needed to only focus on whether or not she made the lead.

When they finally stop in front of the sheet, they both search for her name. They both gasp at the same time due to them reading the same thing. 

“I got the part!”

She jumps onto him as he spun her around in circles. He finally put her down, but their chests were still pressed together. 

“I knew you could do it!”

“I couldn’t have done it without you.”

They both don’t notice how close their faces are to each other until they can feel the others breath. He pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear while she found herself placing her palm on his cheek. He closed his eyes and gently put his hand on top of hers. Nini realized how intimate they were being and felt shy. She released herself from his grip suddenly missing his touch, but they still kept gazing into each other’s eyes.

“Um so maybe we should go back to my place. My moms would love to hear about the news.” 

She sees that he has a look in his eyes that she can’t quite make out. 

“Yeah let’s go.”

She reached out and combined their hands as they walked down the empty hallway. At the same time, they both squeezed each other’s hands three times causing both of them to smile like idiots. This time it was pretty clear what they had meant by that. They both knew in that moment what the other was thinking.

_You feel like home._

***

_Everything you do in my life adds to my happiness, subtracts from my sadness, and multiplies my joy_

**Author's Note:**

> I had the song 1 2 3 4 by Plain White T’s in my head when I wrote this, so it’s kinda inspired by it. Anyways hope you enjoyed.


End file.
